Body found during search for missing teen

Searchers looking for missing teen Austin David King found a body off a logging road east of Morton, according to the Lewis County Sheriff's Office.

The body of a male was found just before 2 p.m. Tuesday, patrol Cmdr. Steve Aust said. It had not been positively identified, but family members and searchers think it’s King’s body. Aust said it was found by searchers associated with the Mount St. Helens chapter of Guardians of the Children.

He said it was about 10 miles away from the Chapman Road trailer where King lives with his mother and siblings. His father lives in Chehalis.

Jennifer Mau, who has coordinated the search on behalf of the family and Guardians of the Children, said the body was found during routine searches after she contacted psychic “intuitive” Sonja Grace from Portland.

“She pointed to this particular road,” Mau said.

The Lewis County Coroner’s Office is set to conduct an autopsy today. Afterward, the body will be taken to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, where a forensic anthropologist will conduct more tests.

Aust said the Sheriff’s Office was treating the discovery of the body as suspicious. He said he wouldn’t speculate on how long the body had been at the location.

Family members and searchers said they have resigned themselves to the fact that the search for King has come to an end.

Fighting tears, his grandmother Linda King of Rochester said he “was a very sweet boy who loved everyone and was very well-mannered.”

“We just have hope now that he’s gone home to heaven to be with the Lord,” she said. “And we will see him soon.”

Guardians of the Children, with the help of family members and friends, had been searching for the teen since he disappeared early June 23 after telling his mother he was going to sleep. Family members described the 16-year-old as a quiet boy who seldom, if ever, wandered away from home.

Though the apparent tragedy is weighing heavily on King’s family, Mau said his mother, Christy Harper, was thankful for the assistance in the search.

“We set out to bring him home and we brought him home,” Mau said. “It’s just not the way we wanted.”

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